Our beloved wife, mother and grandmother, Marjorie Jane (Wilson) Richison, 66, of Norman, Oklahoma, passed away Sunday, April 6, 2008, in Norman.

Margie was born September 1, 1941, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Robert R. and Emily G. Wilson. She graduated from Nebraska City High School in 1959, and the University of Nebraska College of Nursing in Omaha in 1963. Margie married Richard Randall Richison on July 9, 1966, in Nebraska City, Nebraska. They moved to Oklahoma City in 1967 and to Norman in 1973. Margie was a Registered Nurse for the Norman Hospital Emergency Department and for the Norman Clinic. She was a Nursing Instructor for the University of Oklahoma College of Nursing and the Moore Norman Technology Center Nursing Program.

She learned to fly at the University of Oklahoma Department of Aviation and became a Ground School and Flight Instructor for OU. She was a member of the 99s, an International Organization of Women Pilots. She won first place in two Okie Derby Air Races, and flew in the last two transcontinental women’s Air Race Classics. She was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma City.

She was a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the PEO. She was a CASA Volunteer, and she was named the Junior League and the United Way “Volunteer of the Year” in Norman in 1998. She loved to travel and visited China, Russia, Africa, Ireland, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.

Each summer of her life she visited Pelican Lake in Minnesota, and in 1992 she wrote a book, “Living Near to Nature’s Heart”, The History of the Pelican Lake Outing Club. She loved her family and adored her four grandchildren. We wish for her blue skies and tailwinds forever.

She was preceded in death by her parents; Survivors include her husband of 41 years, Randy Richison of Norman; daughters, Cindy and husband Shannon Moreaux of Bozeman, Montana, and Diane and husband G. A. Butler of Blanchard, Oklahoma; grandchildren, Hannah and Jack Moreaux of Bozeman, Montana, and Ethan and Grayson Butler of Blanchard; brother, George Wilson and wife Kay of Tonto Verde, Arizona.

Please make any donations to the Museum of Women Pilots, 4300 Amelia Earhart Lane, Oklahoma City, OK 73059, or your favorite charity.

Margie Richison visited the USNS Amelia Earhart in October 2007 and believed it was an important occasion for the “99s”. As the ship slid west into the ocean, the horns and fireworks were a tribute on many levels, not the least of which was a celebration of Margie’s life by those who knew and loved her.

Obituary Posted by the Richison Family, April 6, 2008. (all photos courtesy of G.B. Koontz)

The USNS Amelia Earhart, T-AKE #6 (October 2007)

Margie was given a VIP tour of the USNS Amelia Earhart in October 2007 by the Nassco Public Relation Department. (San Diego, California)

Left to right: Giacinta Bradley Koontz and Margie Richison with Oklahoma City radio hosts. Museum of Women Pilots Open House, June 2006.